Eggnog with the Valiant's
by SagaPony612
Summary: It's Christmas Eve in the year 1940. Teddy and Dolores have all retired for the evening leaving Eddie alone in the Valiant family apartment/office. However as he starts sipping on eggnog and the Christmas lights glisten outside, Eddie and his brother (who is awoken by surprise in the middle of the night) begin to reflect on Christmases long gone.


**Note: The following is a fan-based project. Who Framed Roger Rabbit is owned by Disney. I only own the story itself. Please support the official release.**

 **Eggnog with the Valliant's:**

The more he thought about it, the more drawn Eddie became to the fridge. Considering his brother was smart enough to buy non-alcoholic eggnog that year, he could drink to his pleasure (without interruption via getting horribly drunk). So he smiled happily as he poured his eggnog and as he kept pouring the beverage, he started reflecting. As far as he knew his brother and girlfriend had long since retired for the evening. His brother Teddy had gone to sleep in special set of holiday pajamas while his girlfriend had walked back to her house a few blocks down. Eddie volunteered to drive her (or let her stay on the couch they had in the office) but she refused simply saying they'd all meet at church the following day. This left Eddie relatively alone as he sat down and began sipping on his glass of eggnog.

He began looking out the window from behind his desk and saw so many twinkling lights below in the city streets. He also found in surprising that even at 11:45 at night people were still rushing this way and that way. However Eddie did also consider the hundreds of people rushing to midnight mass. So for the most part, Eddie just enjoyed the light show as he sipped on his drink. He gazed toward one of the desk draws and pulled something out of the draw. That being his brother's Christmas gift. It was simple enough, several candy canes, a few popular books that had released that year, and the crown jewel of them all, 3 tickets to Fantasia (as well as its record to play on their record player). Eddie knew his brother would be thrilled, he had been excited to see Fantasia ever since they heard about that summer from Walt himself. Not only that but after helping Goofy around the same time, Eddie was able to pull a few strings with Walt and get tickets for a New Year's Eve showing. He's have to wait before formally presenting his brother's gifts to him though (it was only Christmas Eve after all). But very quietly, Eddie got up and slipped the tickets under Teddy's pillow as he slept. Eddie smiled slightly, being reminded of times when his younger twin was far younger and far more introverted. Though Eddie missed those quiet days now and then, he still loved his brother more than anything. After a moment of silence Eddie walked back to his desk, sat down and began thinking on the past.

He thought of the Christmases that had long since become a memory. Most of them from the twins' earlier years took place either in a circus or in a small town just outside of San Diego. They were simple but they still felt real and human like Christmas should be. However as the twins got older, the people they celebrated Christmas seemed to decrease more and more every year. When the twins were 17, their mother had been dead for almost 4 months. When the twins graduated from the academy in 1929, their father had recently died due to old age and sickness. From then on, most of their Christmases were just the two of them. Sure there had been smaller Christmases money-wise but all of them were just the two of them. That's part of the reason why Eddie wanted desperately for Dolores to stay overnight. He figured if his girlfriend stayed over, it might be more than just the two twins that year. However he also wanted to respect his girlfriend's wishes as well. He thought back to what she was wearing that night, a beautiful red dress with a matching coat (that he had picked out with Teddy's help). Finally she also wore a red hat and a festive scarf.

"God Dolores…," Eddie chuckled a little "You're perfect." He whispered to himself.

Eddie would be lying if he said he wasn't head over heels in love with Dolores. She was blunt and direct but also willing to be very kind (it helped that she had a pretty good sense of humor too). She was also physically beautiful and the only woman (that he knew of) so pretty that was willing to give man like himself a chance. He was thrilled Dolores had liked the coat he had gotten her and thought back to it as he kept sipping on his eggnog while looking at old photographs. Some of them were happy and others were incredibly saddening. However that was until about five minutes later when he heard the faint ringing of an alarm clock going off from Teddy's bed. Eddie looked left and saw something was hidden deep under the sheets. He stood up, walked up to the bed and pulled them off only to reveal Theodore's spare toon alarm clock hidden under the sheets. Eddie became incredibly confused. Why in the world would his brother set an alarm for 11:55 at night on Christmas Eve? However before he could ask himself, Eddie saw his brother gently open his eyes before stretching in place. Eddie shook for a moment before sliding off the bed.

"Santino put you up to this didn't he?" Eddie asked his twin angrily.

"Marco?" Teddy replied groggily "Oh no…when I visited him today at the station he was rushing out to try and give gifts to his boss, you know how he is. He always wants to make sure they're happy."

"So…why did you set an alarm for 11:55 on Christmas Eve and speaking of which turn the thing off, it's kind of annoying."

Teddy grabbed the toon alarm clock and turned it off before putting it in his desk draw. Finally he sat up in his bed and smiled at Eddie brightly. Eddie simply gave Teddy the stink eye as the brothers seemed to engage in a staring contest for about 2 minutes straight. Finally at 11:57, Teddy sighed and blinked slightly as he walked toward the kitchen and opened the fridge.

"Alright seriously Teddy what the heck!?" Eddie asked.

"What, are you complaining? Besides do you have… _claustrophobia_?" Teddy asked with a smile.

"Oh hilarious." Eddie replied sarcastically as he walked over to join his brother.

Teddy took the eggnog out of the fridge and poured the last of it into an old glass as he sat down at the table. Eddie followed his brother and soon the two were happily (yet silently) drinking eggnog at the table.

"So Teddy, what's the big idea?" Eddie asked.

"Well Eddie, since when do you complain about stuff like this? If anything I figured you'd be happy for me to up this late, also I wanted to give you something."

"Yeah?" Eddie asked with a raised eyebrow.

Teddy grabbed a can from under their small kitchen table before taking Eddie's eggnog, covering it in whipped cream right and shoving it in Eddie's face. Eddie for his part was shocked but Teddy was more than delighted as he proceeded to pour some of the leftover whipped cream onto his nose.

"Are you having fun yet?" Teddy asked with a happy grin.

"I might be." Eddie replied as wiped off a great majority of the gunk Teddy poured onto him. He was trying to land it in the cup but most of it landed on either floor or his arm. Teddy began to laugh as Eddie walked around their apartment to grab a wash-cloth, some paper towels and soap. Teddy helped a little every now and then but he mostly he kept laughing. Eddie simply groaned as he cleaned up the remains of his brother's latest prank. Suddenly the brothers looked to a clock they had set up on the kitchen counter. It was now midnight on Christmas Day. Teddy smiled as he looked at the clock and went quiet. Eddie finally got up and sat down in the chair across from Teddy once more. The apartment was mostly dark with only the lamp from Teddy's part of the desk lighting the room. Teddy simply smiled as he looked out the open window and Eddie stared with him. The only real sound was their breathing.

"Hey Teddy, you okay?" Eddie asked concerned for his brother.

"Me…never been better. I love this time of year; even if you are the embodiment of the Christmas introvert."

"I am not an introvert!" Eddie replied in a huff.

"Oh yeah, mister I don't want to go to the store because I'm still in my police outfit and I don't want people to look at me." Teddy replied.

"That was different. We just got done wrapping up a really nasty murder call and I didn't want people to worry."

"No." Teddy replied bluntly.

"What?"

"I refuse to talk about gory stuff on Christmas. It's too much of a happy time for that." Teddy said, zipping his lips jokingly.

"Alright, alright I'll cut it out…under one condition."

"Yeah Ed?" Teddy asked.

"First of all never call me that again and second you have to tell me something." Eddie replied.

"Yeah, what's up?" Teddy replied.

"Why'd you get up?"

Teddy looked out the window and saw the Hollywood Christmas lights outside as he pandered over what to say. Eddie simply looked on with curiosity and concern as his brother simply sat and stared. Finally Teddy sighed and got up as he went back to his draw on their office's desk (their apartment and office did blend together after all). He opened it and pulled out a small letter before going back to the kitchen table. He gave the note to Eddie and he quickly read it before passing it back to his brother.

"So…dad put you up to this huh?"

"Yeah, maybe a little. I visited him a-lot when he was sick in the hospital and he always would crack wise just like you do sometimes. However he also told me he was most worried about you."

"Really huh?"

"Yep. He told me that he was worried you'd be lonely and…we'd drift, so I promised him every now and then I'd get up in the middle of the night, check up on you, do some of the chores for you, etc. I figured tonight was kind of the perfect night since you know, you always got so drunk at parties on Christmas Eve and well even when I was little I could never get to sleep on Christmas. Not only that but this whole thing gave me some time to just relax and deal with dad being gone on my own. It helped a-lot honestly, you should try it sometime." Teddy replied softly.

"I might next year." Eddie quietly replied, with a warm smile on his face.

"Hey Eddie, are you okay?"

"Yeah I guess it's just, all this mushy gushy Christmas stuff really gets to me sometimes." Eddie replied, still smiling. He turned to his brother. "However I must admit that joke you pulled with the eggnog was classic…very well done."

"Thanks, I remember you always did it to me."

"Although Teddy I have something to give you."

"Don't you want to wait until tomorrow?" Teddy asked.

"It's Christmas isn't it?" Eddie asked, grabbing all the gifts for his brother, hiding the movie tickets.

"Thanks Eddie."

"Open the small one first." Eddie quickly replied.

"Really bro?" Teddy asked raising his eyebrow.

"Trust me on this one." Eddie said.

Teddy did as was told and opened the books and candy canes first. He smiled (as they were things he had wanted) but was also eyeing the much larger present curiously. Teddy knew it couldn't be books and all Eddie could do is smile.

"Can I open the big one now?" Teddy asked like a young child.

"Yeah you can…Teddy bear." Eddie replied mockingly.

"Don't push it." Teddy snapped as he took the gift from off the edge of the kitchen table. He opened it carefully and once he opened it, he immediately figured out what Eddie was trying to do and rushed to hug his brother. Eddie carefully put the three Fantasia tickets on top of the record while Teddy kept hugging him tightly.

"Thanks bro."

"No problem. Merry Christmas Theodore." Eddie replied smiling.

"Merry Christmas you too Edward."

With that the two Valiant brothers settled as Teddy finally released his older twin from his tight grasp. Eddie walked back to the fridge, opened it and grabbed the final carton of eggnog. He grabbed two cups and poured about half a glass for each of them before giving one cup to his brother.

"Cheers." Both of them called out to each other.

After which both of them starting sipping on the eggnog as they started laughing after Teddy put the Fantasia record in the record player. The two felt content just to spend Christmas together, just them, music…and 2 glasses of egg-nog.


End file.
